shwolfieeep

We have been treating the tank with King British WS3 white spot terminator for a week but it does not seem to be clearing and we have today lost our first fishes – 1 cherry barb & 3 penguin fish. We have been using half doses due to having several lightly scaled fish in the tank, but they are still reacting so badly to the treatment that they are now damaging themselves by flicking. One loach is quite big and is probably stressing the other fish more with his flicking, as it is particularly violent.

Our tank currently consists of:

3 Scissortail Rasbora
3 Agassi Corys
1 Barbatus Cory
1 Clown Barb
5 Checker Barbs
1 Red-tailed Black Shark
2 Algae Loach


We tested the water today and the nitrates were a little high but everything else was fine, however we have since done a 30% water change to be safe.

We have read on the forums that it is best to increase the water temp to around 28 degrees, but our biggest concern is that the corys and scissortails should be kept in temps up to 24 – 25. These fish are not showing signs of white spot so we are worried that we’ll kill them anyway if we raise the temp too high. The fish that definitely have white spot are the Clown Barb and Checker Barbs.

The only differences in the tank of late have been the addition of two Checker Barbs and the addition of coral to slightly raise the Ph level, which has gone from 6.0ph on the 15/12/05 to 7.0ph today the 31/12/05.

Any advice gratefully received

Butterfly

I'm not familiar with the medication your using. What size is your tank?
Carol

shwolfieeep

3ft x 1ft x 1.5 ft so about 28 gals

Update
No more losses but the Clown Barb looking very sorry for himself. Temp has been risen to 28c and light turned off. Also going to stop feeding for awhile in case of a crash. Going to continue to medicate at 1/2 dose has the algae loach reacts when the WS3 goes in by flicking for awhile

ammietia

what are the symptoms of Whitespot? if its a white spot like on the back of the fish overnight one of mine might have it

Jason

White spot basically looks like small white spots all over the fish like as if it has been covered in salt

Butterfly

It's also called ich. Here is a link explaining exactly what it is and how to treat it.
http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/CuringIch.htm Hope this helps.
Carol

adlegl

that article stated pickling salt---but would regular table salt do the job as well

Butterfly

No table salt has iodine in it. Just plain rock salt or Kosher salt will do.
Carol

0morrokh

Some of the best ways for treating whitespopt/ich are natural ones. Raising the temp was good. You can give your salt-tolerant fish a salt bath (not catfish or loaches). Put the fish in a separate container of water. You could add the salt initially, maybe a couple Tbsp, or you could keep adding it gradually after putting your fish in. Make sure to dissolve it before pouring it in if you use the second method as adding raw salt to the water can burn your fish. When the fish start showing signs of distress, i.e. having trouble swimming upright, quickly net them and put them back in the tank. Be sure to do lots of water changes. Doing a 30-50% water change every or every other day is a good idea. I hope they get better!